


The Reappearance

by Wordsmith16



Series: How It Should Have Been [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Harry Potter was Raised by Sirius Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 06:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6317791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordsmith16/pseuds/Wordsmith16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU where Sirius Black was given Harry Potter after James and Lily died, and never went after Pettigrew.  They went into hiding while the rest of Voldemort's followers were rounded up after his defeat.  Sirius Black shows up in Diagon Alley after four years with Harry Potter in tow, eliciting much curiosity.</p>
<p>This is the first in the How It Should Have Been series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reappearance

**Author's Note:**

> I got really interested in a series of stories where everything was different, yet the outcome was the same. Harry still goes to Hogwarts, meets Ron and Hermione, defeats Voldemort countless times, etc. He just does it with a bit more love from home.
> 
> I would really appreciate feedback and kudos!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters; only the plot is mine.

            After The Boy Who Lived had disappeared mysteriously the night of his parents’ murder, people had talked. The wizarding world was all abuzz with rumors of where he went. Faster than gossip in a small town, the news that he had lived and Voldemort had been vanquished had spread, but no one had any plausible guesses as to where the boy might have been taken. It was sad but common knowledge that James Potter’s parents had been killed very early in the war, and as she was muggle-born, no one knew if Lily had any family. Many of the Order of the Phoenix had disappeared similarly on the same night. People ran out of ideas very quickly.

            Which is why, when young Sirius Black turned up in Diagon Alley three years later grasping the hand of a small, black-haired boy with startlingly green eyes and a lightning scar, everyone stopped and stared. White-haired witches bent their heads closer together and whispered. Little girls and boys who had heard the story of Harry Potter as often as they had “Babbitty Rabbitty and the Cackling Stump” stared unabashed at the boy and his guardian.

            Sirius kept a firm grip on the little boy who was squirming to get away and go look in all the windows.

            “Harry! Calm down, you’ll get to look at everything. Just hold on a second!” He sounded a bit frazzled, but there was still obvious laughter in his voice. His grip loosened momentarily as he turned to greet someone, enough for Harry to slip his hand out of Sirius’s and start to run through the alley. Sirius turned just in time to hear a crash and see the little boy go sprawling on the cobblestones. Harry cried out and tears began to make their way down his cheeks as Sirius raced to his side. The skin on his knee was torn and bloody. Quickly and with a practiced air, Sirius conjured bandages that wrapped themselves around his knee.

            “Are you okay, Harry?” The little boy nodded, still crying. Ignoring the huge hole in Harry’s brand-new jeans, his godfather pulled him up into his arms and carried him. The tears hadn’t stopped, but an awed smile spread over the little boy’s face as he looked at the window displays of Quality Quidditch Supplies, Eyelops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, and finally Flourish and Blots. It was into the last that Sirius turned, entering the bookshop for the first time in three years.

            “Moony! What are you doing here?” A young, weary looking man turned at this, his face prematurely lined and dark circles under his bright eyes. His robes were shabby and patched, and he was leaning heavily on a wooden cane. Seeing Sirius and Harry, he smiled.

            “The same thing you are, I would guess, Padfoot. It has been a very long time since I have set foot in Diagon Alley, and I need some new reading material.”

            “And some new robes. Harry!” Harry had wriggled out of Sirius’ grip and breached the gap between him and Remus Lupin, reaching his arms up as Lupin swept him up into his arms with considerably less ease than Sirius.

            “Hello, Harry. How are you?” He held up his scraped hands and said matter-of-factly,

            “I fell.” Remus’ eyebrows contracted with worry. He caught one of Harry’s chubby, little hands in his one of his large, thin ones and brought it closer to his eyes. Sirius, who had not noticed his hands, grabbed the other.

            “Can you, Remus? I never did really learn how to heal small wounds. That was…”

            “Lily’s specialty, I know. Luckily for everyone, I learned it, too, or we never would have survived school. I gave you all quite a few lacerations over the years.” Sirius waved his hand dismissively.

            “You know bloody well that we didn’t mind. Hell, we broke the law just to do it. We wanted to help you, be with you. How have you been doing lately, by the way?” He delayed answering by running his wand over Harry’s hands and muttering an incantation under his breath.

            “Not so well, Padfoot, I won’t lie. Not to you. It’s been difficult, without Prongs and Lils, knowing Wormtail’s a sneak, and knowing that you have Harry now and can’t come once a month to help me. No, I don’t resent it,” he added hastily as Sirius looked about to apologize, “I’m actually glad. Lily and James’s son deserves every bit of the love, time and attention you give him. It is perfectly understandable that old Moony falls into the back of your mind.” Remus smiled at Harry, then up at Sirius.

            “Now hold on a minute, Remus! You’re my best mate. And really! You ought to visit more than you do. We haven’t seen you in months! I know you tend to be ill, but that’s all the more reason to come see us, I can take care of you. I know how.” With an obliging tilt of his head, Lupin began to browse the shelves again.

            “All right. Tomorrow, Padfoot. I swear.” Sirius regarded the tired, ill looking man a moment, then nodded.

            “Okay, Moony. I’ll hold you to that.” Reaching out, he took Harry back and they went off through the store, looking through the shelves.

            “Ah, here’s what I was looking for. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Afraid me dear old mum never read them to me. It was your mum who did, in the end, even though I was already an adult. She came downstairs with you in her arms and said ‘Alright, I’m reading Harry the Beedle’s tales, anyone who hasn’t heard them, get up here. ‘ Of course your dad and Remus had, but they came, too. They really are amusing.” Harry was staring with his wide, bright green eyes at something near the door. As Sirius turned, book in hand, his eyes narrowed.

            Lucius Malfoy stood just in the entrance of the shop, his pale, well groomed hand wrapped around that of a very small boy whose expression was open and happy, not locked in a permanent sneer like his father. Harry started to squirm again, and Sirius was too astounded to catch him quickly enough as he ran over to the Malfoy boy.

            “Harry! Come back here right now.” It was so rare that Sirius raised his voice to the child that he stopped, momentarily, and glanced back, a confused and reproachful look on his face. His godfather started toward him, but it was too late. The Malfoy boy closed the rest of the distance.

            “Hi. I’m Draco. Draco Malfoy.” Silently Sirius willed Harry not to say his name in front of a Death Eater, but he did. He didn’t know any better.

            “I’m Harry. Harry Potter.” Lucius looked down quickly, his nostrils flaring, his eyes narrowing. Sirius took that brief interlude to come up beside Harry and take his hand.

            “You have got to stop doing that,” he said, tightening his grip on the little boy until he complained. He turned his gaze to Lucius then, pure hatred filling him.

            “Hello, Black. Finally decided to show your face, have you? What, scared they’ll take you away as a traitor, leave the Potter boy without his precious guardian?”

            “He’s not the one who can’t live without his master, Malfoy. But then, I suppose between you and me, you’re the traitor, aren’t you?” He lowered his voice, leaning in further. “I don’t believe for a second you were Imperiused, Malfoy, not with all your pure blood mania. You are married to my cousin, Cissy, after all, and everything my mother touches turns to ashes. In fact, if I were you, I would fear the day Voldemort returns more than any of us should.” With satisfaction spreading through him, he took in the contorted look of anger on Lucius’ face. Without another word, he pulled Harry away, paid for the book, and left.


End file.
